So, I posted something on my facebook yesterday that grabbed a lot of attention and became quite the topic within my internet circle of friends.
I recently read a blog entry by UnWinona here where she talks about a situation where a man verbally assaults her on the train for not wanting to speak to him. Granted the man clearly sounds like he has mental health issues and in no way is representative of the male population as a whole, but I have to admit I can relate to her post in a lot of ways.
I get harassed fairly often just walking down the street.
Men will call out "hey baby" sometimes their invitations are more forward "Come home with me!" and sometimes they're downright aggressive "Oh girl- the things I'd do to you...". I've even had my body and my hair grabbed by strangers. More often than not the comments are racial ... "Nee How!" or "Konichiwa!" are some of the better ones I've heard. One man yelled "SOY SAUCE" after me and my all time favorite is when they'll hum the stereotypical Asian tune.
Some people tell me it's just because I'm pretty and I should take it as a compliment, others tell me it's because of how I dress or how I walk. To that I say BULLLSHIEEETTTT.
It's obviously a symptom of a larger sickness in our culture where men and women are taught that objectifying women is appropriate and not enough is done to combat the opinion.
A friend pointed out to me yesterday that as long as douchebags are successful at picking up chicks by being jerks- they'll continue to act that way. Unfortunately- jerks are fairly successful at snagging girls- just google "the pick up artist". I ask myself all the time if this WORKS for these guys- does hollering at women on the street actually work? The answer is that it MUST, even if it's a tiny percentage of the time, or they wouldn't behave that way.. would they?
Either way it's NOT OK.
I think it all comes down to one thing which is RESPECT. Our children are not being taught respect at an early age and they grow up to be assholes. The fact that a man is talking to me is not what I mind- I don't even mind being hit on if it's respectful. Sometimes guys will come up and once I tell them I'm married they'll say "Oh, my bad! He must be a lucky guy, have a great night!" and I am genuinely flattered. But when a guy eye rapes me and tries to grab me, not flattered- just disgusted.
This is one of those subjects that opens up a world of issues like sex in media, violence, capitalism, etc etc- but I'll just stick to this subject for now. I think we as communities need to focus on respecting other people as human beings and how we're setting examples for our kids. So I guess I don't really know where to go from here. This will continue to happen because we live in a fallen world and there are some really shitty people out there.
Bottom line I suppose- is DON'T BE SHITTY. If you see someone being shitty? Punch them in their stupid face. :)
Now here's a picture of my cats.
--LA